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Montenegro – Tiny Nation Vote Upsets Anti-Russian Front
by Debs is Dead
adapted from a comment
I dunno if the barcalounger lefties, who appear to be driven by whatever issue/subject/Thing, that all corporate media is currently venting about in unison, have noticed, but this weekend's (just past) poll in Montenegro has revealed that perhaps 'the Kremlin' is indulging in a little 'whatever you can do, I can do better', payback.
From today's BBC aka "tool of the neoliberal pipe dream":
"The Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) has been in power for 30 years.
Early results suggest the DPS – which has never lost an election – has won the largest share of the vote.
But the main opposition coalition, which leans towards Russia and Serbia, is close behind. Even if the DPS wins the most seats, it may struggle to form a governing coalition.
This could lead to Montenegro's first-ever transfer of power through the ballot box."
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The heavily 'westernized' pro-euro whores are definitely in strife because just as there is no objectively measured way of determining what the correct vote in Belarus is, the Montenegro vote for a government which up until now has unfailingly supported EU/NATO tossage, chiefly by being a cypher for the political, social and economic problems that the EU/NATO consortium of naked self interest has visited upon the rest of Europe, Montenegro has become a mirror of the similar 'crisis' in Belarus.
The attempt to create a mess in Belarus may be a fail, but the response from the normal people in Montenegro seems to be a winner.
The result pointing to a claimed win for the pro-Ruskie official return of 32% of the votes in Montenegro versus the Montenegro fascist administration's alleged 'victory' return of 36% is far more credible than the claimed Belarus' opposition win when official numbers in Belarus are Lukashenko 80% and the fascists a portion of the rest.
Why? Because in spite of America's best efforts, Montenegro may now be a NATO member but most definitely is not a member of the EU. Consequently it is entirely possible that a state with full NATO access will align with the Russian economic coadunate.
Montenegro's soon to be realized position appears (at least to this observer), to be the premier configuration for any Euro state determined to obtain the best deal for its citizens outside of either group of assholes.
If Serbia does garner support from Montenegro that will alleviate Serbia from self serving destructive demands of either arsehole.
Yep I recognize we are meant to take sides, but as a dedicated fan of freedom from all outsiders, I wanna back whoever stands aside of either self indulgent play at attempting to show "how reasonable we all are nowadays". F**k em all, we humans never got ahead by listening to boss class lies.
Nevertheless the real interest from us who do not live in Montenegro must be: Does the American empire still have enough balls, ability, energy to deliver unwarranted violence upon the rest of us solely to claim victory?
I say no.
The MoA Week In Review – Open Thread 2020-69
Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:
> There has been some improvement in the symptoms caused by the inhibition of cholinesterase activity. Mr. Navalny continues to be treated in an intensive care unit, where he is being kept in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator. While his condition remains serious, there is no immediate danger to his life. <
> As an economic system, capitalism (at this point) is showing an advanced decline in capacity to underwrite a stable society. What follows after such a disintegration of a system is a prolonged period of social entropy and disorder. For a significant length of time, a society would slip into less than a society – a society-lite — until it may or may not recover and again become a society in the full meaning of the term. <
- August 29 – Cut To UNIFIL Forces Is (Not) Another Great Trump Achievement
Related:
Since July 20 the Israeli army is waiting anxiously for Hizbullah's response to the Israeli assassination of a Hizbullah fighter in Syria. With Israeli troops expensively kept on high alert at the norther border Hizbullah has all the time it needs. It will not fall for stupid tricks like this one:
> WATCH: #IDF tries to bait Hezbollah with a dummy. Obviously they failed. You can see merkavas parked to the side. Desperation at its finest 😁 pic.twitter.com/Ka5E71IVPC <
—
Other issues:
Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – Open Thread 2020-69
Cut To UNIFIL Forces Is (Not) Another Great Trump Achievement
The Associated Press says that the Trump administration's achieved another great foreign policy victory.
UN council approves cut in Lebanon peacekeepers as US sought
Paragraph 1 and 2 of 24:
The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Friday cutting the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon and expanding its mandate to address U.S. and Israeli concerns about activities of the militant group Hezbollah in the area.
The French-drafted resolution reduced the troop ceiling for the force, known as UNIFIL, from 15,000 to 13,000 under U.S. pressure.
Paragraph 6 and 7 of 24:
The resolution gives the United States a symbolic victory, but it almost certainly will also be welcomed by many countries that view UNIFIL as critical to maintaining peace in the volatile region and strongly support its current mandate which is largely maintained for another year.
“Today we halt a long period of Council complacency on UNIFIL and the growing and destabilizing influence of Iran and its client, the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft said in a statement after the vote.
Paragraph 22 of 24:
According to UNIFIL, it currently has about 10,250 troops including more than 9,400 ground troops and over 850 naval personnel assigned to its Maritime Task Force. In addition, the mission has about 900 civilian staff, both international and national.
Before the mandate renewal UNIFIL had 4,750 fewer troops than the mandate allowed for. It now will have 2,750 fewer troops than it mandate allows.
There were additional minor changes to the mandate which will also have zero practical consequences. To achieve this great victory the Trump administration had threatened to veto the mandate renewal and to end the funding for UNIFIL.
France, which had the lead on the mandate rewrite, found that funny:
"Veto and then what? They will deploy 10,000 marines to replace UNIFIL?" a senior French diplomat told me.
It was an empty threat by the Trump administration but it led to an outcome that can be sold to the domestic fan base as great victory even as it changed nothing.
I for one find this kind of foreign policy action great. No one was hurt by it. Nothing got damaged. All involved got what they wanted.
Shouldn't we wish for more of this kind of policy?
Open Thread 2020-68
‘Mostly Peaceful’ Rioting And Looting Is Helping Trump’s Campaign
The Civil War of 2020 continues apace.
2020
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After three months of continuous clashes in Portland between Antifa rioters, who hide behind peaceful protests, and the police, the mayor is finally concerned about the damage:
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said Wednesday he hasn’t done enough to focus on damages caused by some city protests over the last three months and the fallout from coronavirus. He called on the community to help him come up with better solutions to city issues.
During the last months the Magnificent Mile in Chicago was looted – twice. Yesterday new riots and looting occurred in Minneapolis after a rumor of another police killing incited some people:
Cont. reading: ‘Mostly Peaceful’ Rioting And Looting Is Helping Trump’s Campaign
Belarus – NATO Lobby Acknowledges That Its Color Revolution Failed
On August 15 we explained why the color revolution in Belarus would fail. Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko had offered President Vladimir Putin of Russia to finally implement the long delayed Union State that will unite Belarus with Russia. In exchange he wanted full Russian backing for shutting down the U.S. led color revolution against him. Putin accepted the deal. In consequence:
Lukashenko, and his police, will not hang from a pole. Russia will take care of the problem and the Union State will finally be established.
That does not mean that the color revolution attempt is over. The U.S. and its lackey Poland will not just pack up and leave. But with the full backing from Russia assured, Lukashenko can take the necessary steps to end the riots.
And that is what he did. Lukashenko continued to allow demonstrations but when on Sunday the demonstrators were directed to storm the presidential palace they saw a theatrical but strong response:
[T]he Polish-run Nexta Telagram channel (which is the main medium used by the Empire to overthrow Lukashenko) initially called for a peaceful protest, but at the end of the day a call was made to try to take over the main Presidential building. When the rioters (at this point we are dealing with an illegal, violent, attempt to overthrow the state – so I don’t call these people demonstrators) got to the building they were faced with a real “wall” of riot cops in full gear: this (really scary) sight was enough to stop the rioters who stood for a while, and then had to leave.
Second, Lukashenko did something rather weird, but which makes perfectly good sense in the Belarusian context: he dressed himself in full combat gear, grabbed an AKSU-74 assault rife, dressed his (15 year old!) son also in full combat gear (helmet included) and flew in his helicopter over Minsk and then landed in the Presidential building. They then walked to the riot cops, where Lukashenko warmly thanked them and which resulted in the full police force giving him a standing ovation. To most of us this behavior might look rather outlandish if not outright silly. But in the context of the Belarusian crisis, which is a crisis primarily fought in the informational realm, it makes perfectly good sense.
The protesters, which police had earlier identified as "rich city kids, the children of rich parents who are fed up with the well-fed life", did not have the stomach to attack a well armed and motivated police force.
The NATO lobby shop Atlantic Council has also recognized that fact and bemoans it:
The protesters are generally very sweet, polite, and peaceful. Many are young, middle class Belarusians who work in the country’s booming IT industry and come to rallies dressed in form-fitting hipster ensembles. Unlike events in Kyiv in 2013-14, there is no militant edge to the demonstrations. Indeed, this revolution is so velvet that at times it feels positively sleepy. For better or worse, there is a marked absence of the rough and stalwart young men capable of making liberals uncomfortable or leading the resistance if and when the authoritarian state decides to deploy force.
Without Nazi stormtroopers like the U.S. used during the 2014 Maidan riots in Ukraine there is no chance to overthrow Lukashenko. With such troops the fight would end in a massacre and Lukashenko would still be the winner. The author rightly concludes:
Cont. reading: Belarus – NATO Lobby Acknowledges That Its Color Revolution Failed
The Back And Forth About Navalny’s ‘Poisoning’
The case of the alleged 'poisoning' of the Russian rabble rouser Alexey Navalny is becoming more curious.
Navalny fell ill on August 20 during a flight from Tomsk in Siberia to Moscow. The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk where he was transferred to a hospital. Navalny fell into a coma. The doctors diagnosed a sharp drop in his blood sugar. Navalny has diabetes and his symptoms as described were consistent with a diabetic shock. We therefore (somewhat prematurely) concluded that Navalny was not poisoned.
After a day and a half in the Omsk hospital the patient stabilized. On request of his family he was flown to Berlin and admitted to the Charité hospital. The Charité is a very large (14,000 employees) state run university clinic that is leading in many medical fields. Its laboratories found effects consistent with the ingestion of, or contact with, a cholinesterase inhibitor:
Following his admission, Mr. Navalny underwent extensive examination by a team of Charité physicians. Clinical findings indicate poisoning with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. The specific substance involved remains unknown, and a further series of comprehensive testing has been initiated. The effect of the poison – namely, the inhibition of cholinesterase in the body – was confirmed by multiple tests in independent laboratories.
As a result of this diagnosis, the patient is now being treated with the antidote atropine.
Cholinesterase is needed in the human nerve system to break down acetylcholine which is a signaling substance between synapses. Inhibitors of cholinesterase are used in the therapy of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, anxiety disorder and other illnesses. Cholinesterase inhibitors can be found in certain plant extracts or synthesized. There are two types of cholinesterase inhibitors, carbamates and organophosphates. Both types are also widely used as pesticides. During World War II organophosphates were developed as chemical weapons (tabun, sarin, soman) but not widely used.
The wording of the Charité statement seems to imply that the laboratory results point to the potential effects of a cholinesterase inhibitors, not to a specific substance itself. This is consistent with a statement by the clinic in Omsk which insists that no cholinesterase inhibitors, i.e a 'poison', were found:
“When Alexey Navalny was admitted to the in-patient clinic, he was examined for a wide range of narcotics, synthetic substances, psychedelic drugs and medical substances, including cholinesterase inhibitors. The result was negative,” said Sabayev, chief of the acute poisoning unit at the Omsk emergency care hospital where Navalny was treated before being airlifted to Germany.
“Besides, he did not have a clinical picture, specific for poisoning with substances from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors,” Sabayev, who is also the top toxicologist in the Omsk Region and the Siberian Federal District, added.
We can be quite sure that a trained toxicologist would recognize a Cholinergic crisis. There is however a documented case from India in which an organophosphate poisoning was falsely interpreted as diabetic ketoacidosis (hat tip Bernd Neuner):
Cont. reading: The Back And Forth About Navalny’s ‘Poisoning’
The MoA Week In Review – Open Thread 2020-67
Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:
> A necessary condition for a person like Donald Trump ever winning a major election is now back in play: No one thinks he is going to win. <
> The Press Secretary's statement quotes Trump distancing himself from We Build the Wall on July 12 this year. That's a year and a half after the private border-wall campaign launched—and the week of ex-U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman's unexpected and unexplained ouster. <
> Navalny said himself that he suffered from diabetes in 2019, giving some credence to this explanation. <
—
Other issues:
Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – Open Thread 2020-67
Navalny Was Not Poisoned
Updated below:
On Thursday morning the Russian rightwing and racist rabble rouser Alexey Navalny fell ill during a flight from Tomsk in Siberia to Moscow. He eventually went into a coma. The plane had to be rerouted for an emergency stop in Omsk. Navalny was brought into a clinic and put on a ventilator.
Meanwhile his spokeswomen Kira Yarmysh claimed, without evidence, that Navalny had been poisoned:
Yarmysh believes Navalny, who showed no symptoms prior to the flight, was "poisoned with something mixed into his tea” as it was “the only thing he drank this morning.” In the middle of the journey, she wrote later, he began sweating, went to the toilet, and apparently lost consciousness for a period. RIA Novosti reported that Navalny did not eat or drink anything on the flight.
The doctors in the intensive care unit in Omsk had difficulties to stabilize Navalny. A number of tests were made but no poisons were found. Yesterday evening the patient had stabilized. On request of his family he was transported to Germany where he is currently undergoing treatment.
The hospital in Omsk said that Navalny had experienced severe hypoglycemia:
The head physician of the Omsk emergency hospital, Alexander Murakhovsky, said that Alexei Navalny’s condition was caused by a sharp drop in blood sugar.
Hypoglycemia is also known as diabetic shock:
When a person experiences diabetic shock, or severe hypoglycemia, they may lose consciousness, have trouble speaking, and experience double vision. Early treatment is essential because blood sugar levels that stay low for too long can lead to seizures or diabetic coma.
Hypoglycemia can sometimes happen rapidly and may even occur when a person follows their diabetes treatment plan.
A diabetic shock happens when someone with diabetes has taken too much insulin or has eaten too little. My father had diabetes and I have seen him experiencing this problem several times. He always carried a piece of sugar with him to use it as soon as he felt the first symptoms. My mother taught me the basic first aid I would have to to apply should my father be unable to help himself. Thankfully I never had to use it.
It is important that the measures are taken immediately. A prolonged coma can lead to brain damage. As Navalny was on a plane up in the air it took quite a while to get him into a hospital. His prolonged coma may have created additional damage to his body.
People with diabetes usually learn how to control their blood sugar level. I have found no information that Navalny actually has diabetes but that does not say much as it is not something people usually talk about. I am not aware of any medication or poison that rapidly lowers the blood sugar level and can be applied secretly. It would also be stupid to use such in an attempt to kill someone as the attacked person simply has to eat something to negate the effect.
/Update/
Intellinews reports that Navalny has diabetes:
Navalny said himself that he suffered from diabetes in 2019, giving some credence to this explanation.
/end update/
The 'western' media jumped onto the 'Navalny was poisoned' claim to heap the usual trash on Russia. They also claimed that Navalny is the 'opposition leader' in Russia even as he polls at 2% which is lower than the leader of the communist party and several other real opposition politicians. Nor is Navalny a 'liberal'. He is a rightwing nationalist and racist who sees Cechen and other non-Russian people as cockroaches that should be killed (vid).
In an interview with the Guardian Navalny confirmed those views:
Several years ago, [Navalny] released a number of disturbing videos, including one in which he is dressed as a dentist, complaining that tooth cavities ruin healthy teeth, as clips of migrant workers are shown. In another video, he speaks out in favour of relaxing gun controls, in a monologue that appears to compare migrants to cockroaches.
I ask him if he regrets those videos now, and he’s unapologetic. He sees it as a strength that he can speak to both liberals and nationalists. But comparing migrants to cockroaches? “That was artistic license,” he says. So there’s nothing at all from those videos or that period that he regrets? “No,” he says again, firmly.
The 'western' media also try to connect the 'poisoning' of Navalny to Russia's President Vladimir Putin. That makes no sense at all. Navalny is no danger to Putin and is actually useful for him as he keeps other 'liberals' busy with nonsensical ideas.
During the last years Navalny has made some enemies by uncovering corruption cases. His latest one was about the local governor of Tomsk. It was also the reason why he had flown there. Should Navaly become the victim of a crime the suspects should be sought there.
U.S. Will Sanction Other Countries For Not Enforcing UN Sanctions That Do Not Exist
Yesterday U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attempted to trigger the 'snapback' of UN sanctions against Iran. He failed.
The snapback option is part of the Dispute Resolution Mechanism that is laid out in article 36 and 37 of the nuclear deal with Iran. The UN Security Council adopted the deal in its resolution 2231. When the U.S. move was first announced we explained in detail why the it would fail and summarized:
Only participants of the deal can trigger the snapback process. The U.S. is no longer recognized as such a participant.
Before a snapback can occur there are actually formal processes in the 'Joint Commission' and in the UNSC which must be followed. Those processes will not happen because the other JCPOA and UNSC members will simply ignore a U.S. attempt to trigger them.
Other members of the deal could still do that though. But the Europeans are unlikely to take the U.S. side on this issue.
The legal argument the U.S. makes to claim a right to trigger the snapback sanctions is bizarre and it does not hold up.
Soon after Pompeo's announcement Russia, China and the EU3 countries Britain, France and Germany as well as Iran rejected the U.S. move. EU High Representative Josep Borrell, who coordinates the Joint Commission that supervises the nuclear deal, declared the U.S. move to be null and void:
I take note of today’s announcement by the US regarding the so-called UN sanctions “snapback mechanism” under UN Security Council resolution 2231.
As I have repeatedly recalled, the US unilaterally ceased participation in the JCPOA by presidential Memorandum on 8 May 2018 and has subsequently not participated in any JCPOA-related activities. It cannot, therefore, be considered to be a JCPOA participant State for the purposes of possible sanctions snapback foreseen by the resolution.
Belgium, which is the UN Security Council "facilitator" of the residual UN sanctions on Iran under UNSC resolution 2231, also rejected the U.S. position.
Pompous may still try procedural tricks at the United Nations to somehow put the issue on the agenda. But other Security Council members are likely to find ways to prevent that.
This is the second time within a week that U.S. attempts against Iran at the United Nations were rejected. Last week the U.S. proposed to prolong an arms embargo against Iran. The current one will run out in October. The move failed:
The US has suffered a humiliating defeat at the United Nations as its proposal to extend an arms embargo on Iran won support from only the Dominican Republic at the security council vote.
The whole attempt to reintroduce sanctions under the nuclear deal has only one purpose:
The Trump administration is not seeking to restore U.N. sanctions because they want to preserve the JCPOA, because it has been their goal all along to kill the agreement and create a pretext for conflict.
The U.S. hopes to pressure Iran until it formally declares the deal dead. That could then give pretext for launching a larger conflict against the country. But as long as the other deal members hold up their commitments Iran is likely to stick to the deal.
The U.S. therefore swings the wrecking ball that it calls foreign policy against anyone who still supports the deal.
The U.S. will now pretend that its illegal move triggered the 30 days period that is foreseen in resolution 2231 before sanctions would come back. In 30 days it will pretend that the UN sanctions are back. After that the U.S. will sanctions those countries which ignore UN sanctions against Iran that do not exist:
The United States will not hesitate to impose sanctions on any nation that opposes its effort to "snapback" United Nations sanctions on Iran, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told "Special Report" Wednesday night.
"When we have seen any country violate our current sanctions, the current American sanctions, we have held every nation accountable for that," Pompeo told host Bret Baier. "We will do the same with respect to the broader U.N. Security Council sanctions as well."
I hope that the U.S. will follow through on this. The more it sanctions left and right for totally irrational reasons the more incentives will other countries have to build mechanisms that make U.S. sanctions ineffective and useless. Russia has already done that and China to some extend. The Europeans should have done this long ago but are only now considering it seriously.
There are also counter measures that could and should be considered. A European tax on digital products would seriously hurt Google, Facebook, Ebay and other U.S. companies. When their profits and stocks drop the Trump administration might learn that wrecking balls have the tendency to swing back.
Steve Bannon, Former Senior Trump Advisor, Arrested For Defrauding Trump Voters
It is likely that U.S. President Donald Trump will soon say that he hardly knew his former campaign manager and senior advisor Steve Bannon and that he had always suspected that Bannon was a crook.
Today the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York announced an indictment against Bannon and others:
Leaders Of ‘We Build The Wall’ Online Fundraising Campaign Charged With Defrauding Hundreds Of Thousands Of Donors
Starting in approximately December 2018, BRIAN KOLFAGE, STEPHEN BANNON, ANDREW BADOLATO, and TIMOTHY SHEA, and others, orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors, including donors in the Southern District of New York, in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign ultimately known as “We Build The Wall” that raised more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border of the United States. In particular, to induce donors to donate to the campaign, KOLFAGE repeatedly and falsely assured the public that he would “not take a penny in salary or compensation” and that “100% of the funds raised … will be used in the execution of our mission and purpose” because, as BANNON publicly stated, “we’re a volunteer organization.”
Those representations were false.
The four indicted persons who ran the "We Build The Wall" campaign funneled donations into their own pockets:
[STEVE] BANNON, through a non-profit organization under his control (“Non-Profit-1”), received over $1 million from We Build the Wall, at least some of which BANNON used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in BANNON’s personal expenses.
Bannon and the other three accused persons are now under arrest.
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Interestingly the indictments come from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York which in June was involved in a spat with Trump:
Geoffrey Berman, the powerful U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said late Friday that he had not resigned after Attorney General William Barr said he would be stepping down. Barr sent a letter to Berman on Saturday saying he had asked President Trump to fire Berman, and the president had done so.
"I was surprised and quite disappointed by the press statement you released last night," Barr said in a statement. "Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he has done so."
Berman's office had investigated some of President Trump's associates, including the president's former personal attorney Michael Cohen.
There were at that time several known cases in the Southern District that involved people somewhat associated with Trump. But it still is not known why exactly Trump intervened in that office.
Could it have been because of the case against Bannon which was not publicly known at that time?
Probably not. Bannon and the others defrauded people who want to build the wall and are thereby on Trump's side. Trump is not probably not stupid enough to intervene in such a case.
Then again …
The advisory board of We Build The Wall includes several other pro-Trump figures including mercenary salesman Erik Prince.
CBS reports that Bannon was taken into custody by US Postal Inspection Service agents. In the announcement of the indictment Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, explicitly praises the USPIS for its support. In light of the recent dust up over alleged Trump moves against the Postal Service that deserves a chuckle.
Bannon had recently worked with the Chinese crook Guo Wengui to build up a media company. As we noted a year ago:
Miles Kwok aka Guo Wengui is a disgruntled Chinese oligarch. He is one of the men who finances the Hong Kong protests. Here he appears with Steve Bannon Miles Kwok & Mr Bannon: The 5 principles on Hong Kong’s matter (vid).
The Bennon-Guo media venture is also in trouble:
Cont. reading: Steve Bannon, Former Senior Trump Advisor, Arrested For Defrauding Trump Voters
Open Thread 2020-66
Democratic National Cringefest
Satire:
The Onion @TheOnion – 19:55 UTC · Aug 18, 2020
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Upgraded To Full DNC Speaking Slot After Announcing Support For Iraq War https://bit.ly/2Y9Kw19
 —
Democrats:
Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1 – 23:20 UTC · Aug 18, 2020
Breaking on @MSNBC: Colin Powell will be a featured speaker at the Democratic National Convention tonight.
The End Of The Hariri Trial
Today the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which was set up to investigate the 2005 assassination of billionaire and former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafik Hariri, is giving its final judgment:
Judges at a U.N.-backed tribunal said Tuesday there was no evidence the leadership of the Hezbollah militant group and Syria were involved in the 2005 suicide truck bomb assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
…
The trial centered on the alleged roles of four Hezbollah members in the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others and wounded 226 people. Prosecutors based their case largely on data from mobile phones allegedly used by the plotters to plan and execute the bombing.
Without the phone data there would be no case against the four suspects, [Presiding Judge David] Re said, as he began explaining the complex investigation into the telecom networks prosecutors say the suspects used.
Re said that the telecom evidence in the case was “almost entirely circumstantial.”
Based on that 'almost entirely circumstantial' evidence the tribunal found that only one of the accused, Salim Jamil Ayyash, is guilty of the charges. That person, an alleged Hizbullah member, has vanished years ago.
The reading of the 150 pages summary of the 2.600 pages long judgment is still ongoing. Independent reporter Bel Trew is live tweeting the proceedings.
The outcome is a big nothing burger that will leave the many enemies of Hizbullah unsatisfied. But it also saves Lebanon from more strife.
Nine years ago we predicted that this was likely to be the result of the case. Here is the original piece published on June 30 2011:
The Hariri Indictment
2005: Investigator Says Syria Was Behind Lebanon Assassination
The German prosecutor conducting the United Nations investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon said today that fresh evidence reinforced his earlier judgment that Syria's intelligence services were behind the killing and that Syrian officials were obstructing his investigation.
2009: Four Lebanese generals 'to be handed to UN for Rafik Hariri tribunal'
Four army generals held in Lebanon over the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri could be handed over within weeks to the special tribunal in The Hague that will put them on trial, the court registrar said today.
2011: UN court indicts four Hezbollah members over Hariri car bomb
Lebanon's senior prosecutor has received criminal indictments for four members of the Shia militant group Hezbollah, who are accused of assassinating the country's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in a car bomb attack six years ago.
2015: …
Obviously they can't make up their mind on who killed Hariri – Syria, some Lebanese generals, Hizbullah or whoever it will be convenient to indict during the next decade. The purpose of the UN kangaroo (or potato) court is not to find the Hariri murder or to do justice. It is a political instrument in the hands of the USraeli-Saudi alliance.
But let's step back and take today's indictment of Hizbullah members as an opportunity to again look at the person of Rafik Hariri. He was not the "good guy" the "western" media constructed but a neoliberal robber baron who defrauded the people of Lebanon.
From the 2005 BBC economic obituary of Hariri:
Cont. reading: The End Of The Hariri Trial
The MoA Week In Review – Open Thread 2020-65
Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:
- August 12 – 'Western' Media Falsely Claim That Russia's Covid-19 Vaccine Is Ready To Go
Related:
The international part of the phase 3 trial of the Russian vaccine had already been announced. Now there is more on the Russian side of the phase 3 trial (machine translation):
Post-registration studies of the Russian vaccine against the new type of coronavirus can begin in 7-10 days, reports TASS with reference to the director of the National Research Center (SIC) of Epidemiology and Microbiology named after N.F. Gamaleya of the Ministry of Health Alexander Gintsburg.
Several tens of thousands of people will take part in the post-registration studies, Gunzburg noted. He added that research will be carried out on the territory of the Moscow region.
—
Other issues:
Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – Open Thread 2020-65
Belarus – This Color Revolution Is Already Dead. The Union State Has Killed It.
The color revolution attempt in Belarus, which we predicted in June, evolved over the last week. But today's events tell us that it will soon be over.
While President Alexander Lukashenko claimed to have won 80% of the votes during last Sunday's election, the 'western' candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya claimed that she had won. (While the 80% is certainly too high it is most likely that Lukashenko was the real winner.) Protests and riots ensued. On Tuesday Tikhanovskaya was told in no uncertain terms to leave the country. She ended up in Lithuania.
During the week several nightly riots were shut down by the police. Several protester were 'roughed up'. Videos of those incidents were used by the usual 'western journalists' as example of unusual police brutality. It is as if none of those empire serving scribes ever watched how 'western' police react when bottles and fireworks are thrown at them.
In an interview with Strana.ua two employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus explained their view of the situation (edited machine translation):
"The command has repeatedly informed the personnel that foreign provocateurs are preparing riots. These are America, Poland, the Baltics and Ukraine. Russia does not need a strong president in Belarus either; they want to put their own man instead of Lukashenko. It so happened that Belarus for all its neighbors has become like a bone in the throat. They do not like Lukashenko because he does not allow Western or Russian oligarchs into the country. Yes, and the local are not allowed to raise their heads. For this, everyone does not like him and that muddies the water."
…
"Did you see who came and stood in front of us during the hot phase of the riots on Monday? These are rich city kids, the children of rich parents who are fed up with the well-fed life. These are the boys, young people who have lost their shores, who do not understand what they want at all. Most of my colleagues are guys from the villages. And they remember how their parents had a hard time in the 90s, until Luka came and stopped the mess. Now we do not live richly, but we are not poor. But many do not appreciate that."
Anyway, the police were told to tone it down. They did not like that (edited machine translation):
"Nobody wants to be torn up like the Berkut in Ukraine. We remember its fate. We have an order, we carry it out. All our people understand that if these rich kids and their masters come to power, we will hang from poles. We are accused of beating people. They did not beat people, but carried out the order, the commanders told them in advance – to act harshly. We worked."
Berkut was the Ukrainian police force that was falsely accused of having fired at demonstrators during the 2014 Maidan coup and was afterwards dismantled.
There don't seem to be many rich city kids in Minsk. Throughout the week the protests groups in Belarus were rather small. The 'western' media have pushed high number counts and talked of countrywide protest when twenty women stood on a sidewalk in Minsk. Photos can tell the real story in such situations. Some observers got very excited when some 200 staff of the MTZ Minsk Tractor Works staged a short walkout. But MTZ Minsk Tractor Works has 17,000 employees.
The photo below was taken and published around noon local time today. This was to be today's central protest in Minsk. On a Saturday morning, in excellent weather, only some 2,000 people came out. Minsk has some 2 million inhabitants. The 'rich city kids' came. And few beyond that.
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Nexta is by the way the central communication channel used in this color revolution attempt. On Tuesday another Stana.ua report gave some details about its operation (edited machine translation):
Cont. reading: Belarus – This Color Revolution Is Already Dead. The Union State Has Killed It.
Why Has Joe Biden Chosen Kamala Harris?
Can anyone explain to me why Joe Biden selected Kamala Harris as running mate?
I find nothing that makes her an attractive candidate:
- We just had a summer during which Democrats applauded to Black Live Matters and cheered anti-police riots. Harris has the well deserved (vid) reputation of being a hard line prosecutor and is unlikely to be sympathetic to the issue. Stocks of private prison companies went up when Harris was confirmed as vice president candidate.
- Harris comes from California. She will not attract critical swing state voters.
- Her campaign during the primaries was chaotic. She polled at some 2%, about the worst number of all candidates.
- She has little governing and zero foreign policy experience. As Joe Biden has obviously (vid) mental problems a more experienced potential replacement would have been more assuring.
- Kamala means "horrible, terrible" in Finnish.
In my view the choice of Harris as VP candidate increases the already high chance that Biden will lose the presidential election.
So what was the real reason for this choice?
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The Wall Street Journal headline hints to a potential answer but my hunch is that there is more to it.
United Arab Emirates Betray Palestine
U.S. President Donald Trump just announced that the United Arab Emirates and Israel "agreed to full normalization" of their relations and that they will "establish reciprocal embassies".
In exchange Israel will "suspend declaring sovereignty" over parts of the West Bank land that it, for all intent and purpose, has already annexed and controls.
Here is the term sheet Trump posted. It is headlined as a "Joint Statement" of the U.S., Israel and the UAE:
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While the UAE and Israel have been in bed together for decades they never established formal relations.
This will create waves in the Arab world. It is treason towards the Palestinian cause and its supporters. The Arab boycott of Israel was always supposed to press Israel towards recognizing the rights of the Palestinians. Netanyahoo had claimed that he could make peace with Arab states before making peace with the Palestinians. The UAE has now proven him right.
Cont. reading: United Arab Emirates Betray Palestine
Open Thread 2020-64
‘Western’ Media Falsely Claim That Russia’s Covid-19 Vaccine Is Ready To Go
After President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia's Covid-19 vaccine candidate had gained an approval from its regulator, 'western' media went into a anti-Russian frenzy to sow fear and doubt about it.
All the above, just as this one, are based on a willful misinterpretation of the Russian announcement:
Russia has become the first country in the world to approve a vaccine for the coronavirus, President Vladimir V. Putin announced on Tuesday, though global health authorities say the vaccine has yet to complete critical, late-stage clinical trials to determine its safety and effectiveness.
Mr. Putin, who told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning that the vaccine “works effectively enough,” said that his own daughter had taken it. And in a congratulatory note to the nation, he thanked the scientists who developed the vaccine for “this first, very important step for our country, and generally for the whole world.”
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By skipping large-scale clinical trials, the Russian dash for a vaccine has raised widespread concern that it is circumventing vital steps — and potentially endangering people — in order to score global propaganda points.
Russia has not approved a vaccine against Covid-19 and it is not skipping large-scale clinical trials.
The Russia regulator gave a preliminary approval for a vaccine candidate to start the large-scale clinical trial. This is similar to an emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Science Magazine is one of the few media who got it right:
In a startling and confusing move, Russia claimed today it had approved the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, as the nation’s Ministry of Health issued what’s called a registration certificate for a vaccine candidate that has been tested in just 76 people. The certificate allows the vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, to be given to “a small number of citizens from vulnerable groups,” including medical staff and the elderly, a Ministry of Health spokesperson tells ScienceInsider. But the certificate stipulates that the vaccine cannot be used widely until 1 January 2021, presumably after larger clinical trials have been completed.
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A website for Sputnik V says a phase III efficacy trial involving more than 2000 people will begin on 12 August in Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Mexico. Mass production of the vaccine is slated to begin in September.
Cont. reading: ‘Western’ Media Falsely Claim That Russia’s Covid-19 Vaccine Is Ready To Go
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